Early childhood educators across the country earn a median wage of $11.65 an hour, according to the 2020 Early Childhood Workforce Index from the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE) at the University of California, Berkeley. Black early educators on average are paid $0.78 less per hour than their White peers, CSCCE reported. "This largely female workforce has been bearing the brunt of lack of investment for many years and many within this workforce have to turn to public assistance to get by. Even in the best of times, before the pandemic, early educators were already among the lowest paid workers in the country," said Caitlin McLean, author of the CSCCE report. For more on this, see our press release at Berkeley News. Another story on this topic appeared on CNBC.